It’s official Brendan Maclean is headlining Saturday Night LIVE at Pokolbin Pride 2018.

TICKETS

Signed to Universal Publishing in 2014, Brendan was put under the spotlight after his ukulele pop anthem Stupid took the internet by storm. Selling thousands of copies from his bedroom, he was thrust upon the international scene when its charming single-shot video made waves on NPR and CNN. The Guardian UK crowned him, “a King of Pop In The Making,” and it would seem the throne edges ever closer; the independently released funbang1 entering the charts at Number 4 on iTunes and, as The Music magazine put it, “giving some actual meaning to the word ‘independent’ in the Carlton Independent Charts (AIR),” debuting at #2 both in front of and behind Sia’s passed releases.

After his cameo in The Great Gatsby as Klipspringer, Baz Luhrmann quipped that Maclean, “is a modern day Mick Jagger.” He confirmed this reputation and presented a stunning breadth of skill when he joined Marcia Hines in the award winning and critically adored cabaret, Velvet. After performing over 250 shows he left the cast to take a principal role in the upcoming ABC iView series F*cking Adelaideand tour with friend and media provocateur Amanda Palmer. In 2017 Brendan joined Sam Sparro, Diesel and David Campbell in The Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s tribute to George Michael Praying for Time and is now preparing release his new EP, Solo.

Maclean has made a habit of finding himself under the spotlight not only for his music but also his extraordinary music videos, Huffington Post proclaiming Brendan’s work as, “The smartest, most compelling videos we’ve seen in years.” His latest film House of Air caused global controversy after racking up over 1.3 million hits in under a month, garnering both protests and acclaim from Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter and The Advocate. It has gone on to win The Berlin Music Video Music Awards and has officially been accepted into Raindance Film Festival, the short films first Academy Award listed credit.

AWARDS + CREDITS

2008 National Youth Week Award People’s Choice for ‘Airport People.’

2009 National Youth Week Award People’s Choice & Industry Award for Music for ‘Must Be Mountains.’

2011 Winner of nine Queensland Film Awards for ‘Pratically Wasted.’

2011 8th in ABC Rage Top 100 for ‘Cold& Happy’

2013 Crowdfunds $22,000 to release Population with Paul Mac

2014 Signs to Universal Publishing Music Group

2015 Releases two home produced EP’s including a feature with Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer.

2015 Is awarded The Sydney Mardi Gras Queer Artist of The Year

2016 Releases funbang1, debuts at #4 on iTunes Aus, debuts in UK & US top 50, #16 in the ARIA Digital Albums Charts

Brendan Macleanis an Aussie legend in-progress, not only is he a former TedX contributor he is also an accomplished Solo artist and for his work with Marcia Hines and Joe Accaria on the Velvet Original Cast Soundtrack as an ARIA nominee. He also performed in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby in 2013. His video for House of Air was controversially removed from YouTube after 700,000+ views but remains on Vimeo having achieved in excess of 3m views. Taking influence from Tears for Fears, The Presets and Silverchair, Regina Spektor and Sampha he has been compared to Sam Sparro, MIKA and stands before us at Pokolbin Pride as an Ambassador for our community who according an SBS interview “hopes that the future of LGBT+ music will be shaped by individuals who identify as queer—a shift away from traditional idols like Kylie, Britney Spears and Madonna.”

Geraldine Turner OAM is Australian Entertainment Royalty as a leading performer in musical theatre since the 1970s she’s starred in Wicked, Oliver, Chicago and Cabaret and is now performing in the Hunter Valley at Tamburlaine Organic Wines on Friday 12th October 2018 as part of the Pokolbin Pride Festival.

Luke Antony who headlined at Pokolbin Pride in 2016 is back to perform at Saturday Night Live following his spectacular performances on The Voice (at the time of writing he’s down to the final 12 and has got all our support to win).Luke is Sydney’s hottest young singer who works constantly – he’s the real deal!

Having performed on an international stage at Berlin Pride in 2016 in-front of thousands, Luke has built his career on his unbeatable skills and charismatic stage presence. From a small town in North Queensland, few have predicted Luke would be writing his first album and performing over 130 gigs every year. With multiple solo releases under his belt Luke has been compared to the vocal stylings of Sam Smith and Guy Sebastian. Luke Antony is an unmissable act.

Ben Noir’s Burlesque show has performed all over the world from Sydney to Paris to London, Melbourne and in Switzerland. Ben has also performed as the leading man to ex Moulin Rouge star Shay Stafford. It’s with great pleasure and excitement we welcome Ben to open Saturday Night LIVE.

DJ Mason Andrewsburst onto the music scene early 2012, at just 22 years old. From humble beginnings in beachy hometown Newcastle, promoting club events on the LBGTQI Scene, his love for music led him to take to the decks. Leaving every dancefloor wanting more of his funky, energetic vocal house sets, Mason snapped up several respected Sydney residencies such as the infamous Stonewall Hotel, The Gay Bar, Colombian Hotel, Imperial Hotel, and Midnight Shift and was hand picked for residency at one of Australia hottest night spots, ARQ Sydney. In 2015 Mason was selected amongst Headline DJ’s for the Official Sydney Mardi Gras Party where he spun in the main arena, in the Royal Hall of Industries to over 8000 people. With a killer smile and an over energetic personality, this sexy, dynamic and versatile DJ has been influenced by the energetic beats of Crazibiza, Prok & Fitch, Hoxton Whores, Tradelove, UMEK and many more. Playing for packed out venues and events, this crowd please DJ is quickly carving his mark on the music industry, with no sign of easing up and it’s with great pleasure we welcome him back to Pokolbin Pride for his second year as our resident.

The Timberlina is the Hunter Valley’s resident Queen – regularly hosting Drag Queen Bingo at Nanna Kerr’s Kitchen and performing in Newcastle. She’ll be giving it her all with athletic peformances of the campest and loudest tracks you know at Rainbow feast. on Friday 12th and at Saturday Night LIVE 13th October.

Carmel Latte will be hosting Friday’s Rainbow feast. at Nanna Kerr’s Kitchen and our Saturday Night Live event at Ben Ean Winery – Carmel’s our indigenous or is that insidious Queen originating for Wollongong and now residing on a couch in Melbourne. If she makes it to the train station on time and is sober enough to click for an Uber from Maitland we are in for a treat.

And we’ve teamed up with three accomodation partners to ensure you get access to the best deals and the most choice…

Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley is excited to be one of the accommodation partners and to celebrate we are offering a special discount of 15% during the festival period. BOOK NOW

Dashville Hunter Tent Stays is a secluded bushland venue and campground owned and run by the Johnston family. It is located at Belford, just 20 mins from all the Pride action with simple access from Sydney via the new Hunter Expressway.

The basic run down is below, please read through these points, if anything is unclear, or your date is not listed above, be sure to drop us an email via mail@dashville.com.au or phone 0417690992 or visit their website to book now.

Dashville is not your traditional caravan park or campground, we charge everything on a per person rate. There are some optional inclusions that are priced for more than one person, such as 2 person or 4 person tent hire, but unless stated otherwise, all rates and charges are per person.

You can choose to stay one, two or three nights, Friday, Saturday and/or Sunday. If it’s Friday anytime after 2pm is fine. If it’s Saturday, anytime from 10am is fine.

On Friday nights, often we will have complimentary live entertainment, licensed bar and dinner available. Friday night activities are numbers dependant and confirmed via email before your arrival.

Choose your own space/site to set up camp, whether it be a caravan, tent, camper, whatever. There’s no space restrictions. Everything is charged per person so this allows freedom for you to set up however, wherever. Keep in mind under 12 is free to camp ( child meals options are available onsite.)

We have hot showers and flushing toilets available around the clock, with 24hr access to power in this area.

Each night you stay we include a cooked breakfast the following day. This takes the hassle out of bringing all the cooking gear, and on these glorious mornings waking up in the bush, there’s nothing better than slowly easing into the day, whilst someone prepares you a tasty breakfast.

Please say thank you to the wonderful people at Hunter Hopper who will be providing the service all weekend when you get off and on.

Like Aurizon on FB and if you are looking for a new career or a change of work scenary check out their website for jobs – they’ve got to be a pretty awesome place to work if they provide free transport for our community 😝

Anyone can use the service – subject to enough seats on the bus when you want to board. We have done our best to provide a service that caters for all the needs we know about 🚌

Prime Meat is a digital work by 23year-old Wollongong based artist Nick Prentoski of Toski Designs. Prentoski is Pokolbin Pride’s 2017 Artist in Residence.

The piece was commissioned to highlight to the tension, division, anger and hurt that has been caused by the Australian Government’s unnecessary Same Sex Marriage Survey within the both the LGBTQI and broader community.

“We also hope to ease some of this anger and distress, by poking fun at our former prime minister Tony Abbott and the ridiculousness of the out-dated views held by him and many like him,” says Jimmy Kerr.

The exhibition is not the first time Pokolbin Pride has showcased art by LGBTQI community members. Last year, artist ‘Nordacious’ headlined the Art Expo, with pieces inspired by the cult movie Muriel’s Wedding. This exhibition has now moved to Muse Clinic in Darlinghurst, Sydney and will open in November 10, to coincide with Muriel’s Wedding, The Musical.

“The success of last year, and having now worked closely with Nick Prentoski over the past few months, has sparked the idea that we should open the annual exhibition for both established and upcoming artists to create and submit a portrait piece of a prominent LGQBTI Australian, to be entered in to an Archibald Prize type competition,” says Kerr.

“We hope to award the winners with a sizeable grant to continue their work, as well as to raise money for ACON, as we do with the entire Pokolbin Pride festival each year. We will be releasing more on that very soon, along with details on how people can enter and who our corporate sponsors will be.”

Prime Meat will be on display at Tamburlaine Organic Wines for the duration of the Pokolbin Pride Festival (October 20-22), along with several other artworks by Prentoski, featuring well-known faces from the LGBTIQ community, celebrities and more.

Pokolbin Pride attendees can view the exhibition from 10am to 4pm daily during the course of the festival.

About the artist:

Nick Prentoski is a 23-year old self-taught digital artist from Wollongong, NSW. He works in Illustrator and Photoshop to create his work.

Prentoski, who identifies as Gay says: “My work is all about acceptance and the message that love and compassion can come from a single piece of art.

“With this particular piece, it felt great to know I was creating something for our community, which will bring a smile to people’s faces.”

“I was humbled to be asked to be a part of Pokolbin Pride. It has been an amazing journey to work with Matty, Jimmy and the team and I am so proud to be exhibiting my work at the festival.”

Prints of his work are available from the Pokolbin Pride website with all profits going to support ACON the festival’s community partner.

Our corporate partner Aurizon have generously provided funds to transport guests to and from the main events and partner venues throughout the weekend – this is such an amazing gift for our community and we are truly grateful.

There is parking at all the venues if you decide to do your own thing over the weekend. Please drive safely and responsibly.

The FREE buses are available as follows…

Friday 20th October

From Hunter Tent Stay to Peterson House for the Bubbles & Beats Party from 6pm

From Peterson House to Hunter Tent Stay to get you home safe from 10pm

There is still plenty of space at the campsite to come and stay the whole weekend in the Hunter Valley and enjoy the love and kindness that is Pokolbin Pride – EVERYONE IS WELCOME!

If you are not camping there are some holiday lets still available or just come for the day or a party.

There are still limited tickets available for all three parties at Peterson House, Tamburlaine Organic Wines and Ivanhoe Wines as well as the Rainbow Lunches at Nanna Kerr’s Kitchen – buy your tickets ASAP.

It’s going to be a fabulous weekend of colour and celebration for our community, friends and family.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Hunter Valley this time next week…